Andre Agassi, Who Shared a Love-Hate Relationship With His Father, Once Disclosed His Bizarre Reaction About His Wedding With Steffi Graf- ‘What’s Not to Like?’

Andre Agassi is one of the most successful players of the older generation. He, alongside Pete Sampras and John McEnroe, ruled the courts and brought crowds of fans to the sport. However, the credit for his illustrious career partly goes to the person who gave all his saving to get him the best coach. 

Agassi’s father Mike Agassi gave him the much-needed push and support in his teenage days. Therefore, in a way, he is the reason why tennis has the eight-time Grand Slam champion as a veteran. However, even though Mike played a major role in his professional life, he kept his distance from his personal life. Especially his love life and weddings.

Andre Agassi about his father’s absence at his wedding

Agassi, in his autobiography, mentioned how uninterested his father was when he tied the knot with the 22 times Grand Slam champion, Steffi Graf. “My father insists he’s not the least bit slighted by not getting an invite. He doesn’t want an invite. The last thing he wants to do is attend a wedding,” he wrote. 

Thereafter, he explained, “He doesn’t like weddings. (He walked out in the middle of my first.) He doesn’t care where or when or how I make Stefanie my wife, he says, so long as I do it. She’s the greatest women’s tennis player of all time, he says. What’s not to like?”

Read more: ‘I Have No Regrets With What I Did’- Andre Agassi Said He Was Proud of the Things He Wrote in His Book ‘Open’ a Decade Ago

Agassi, at first, got hitched to the Hollywood actress Brooke Shields. He and Shields tied the knot in 1997, though their marriage faced some serious issues and they decided to walk out in 1999. Thereafter, the former World No 1 found his soulmate in Graf. They exchanged vows in the year 2001 and are now parents to two children. 

What is Agassi up to these days?

The four times Australian Open champion, after retiring from the sport in the year 2006, got inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame and decided to test his coaching skills. He first trained the 21 times Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic and then shook hands with the Belgian professional Grigor Dimitrov.

Watch this story: When Andre Agassi openly defended preferential treatment given to Serena Williams at Wimbledon

He worked in collaboration with Dimitrov till 2020 and now is taking a break from coaching. Further, parallel to this he has been running the Andre Agassi foundation. The charity aims to provide education to under-deserved children of Nevada.